480 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, least likely to give offence ; and it was quite laughable to notice the 
fertility of their invention in order to obtain this end, which was 
seldom gained without a sad sacrifice of integrity. Their reluctance 
to receive remuneration for their trouble or for the provisions which 
they supply to foreigners is equally remarkable : — Captain Broughton 
and Captain Hall have noticed their conduct in this respect; in the case 
of a whale ship which put into Napa-keang in 1826, and received nearly 
two dozen bullocks and other supplies, the only remuneration they 
would receive was a map of the world. And in our own instance 
(though we managed by making presents to the mandarins and to the 
people to prevent their being losers by their generosity), An-yah’s reply 
to my question, whether we should pay for the supplies we received in 
money or goods? was, “ Mandarin give you plenty, no want pay.” But 
with all this politeness, as is the case with the Chinese, they cannot be 
said to be a polished people. 
Our means of judging of their education were very limited : a few 
only of the lower orders could read the Chinese characters, and still 
fewer were acquainted with the Chinese pronunciation; even among 
the better classes there were some who were ignorant of both. Schools 
appear to have been established in Loo Choo as far back as the reign of 
Chun-tien, about the year 1187, when characters were introduced into 
the country, and the inhabitants began to read and write. These cha- 
racters were said to be the same as those of the J apanese alphabet y vofa *. 
In the year 1372, other schools were established, and the Chinese cha- 
racter was substituted for that of the Japanese ; and about the middle 
of the seventeenth century, when theMantchur dynasty became fixed 
upon the throne of China, the Emperor Kang-hi built a college in Loo 
Choo for the instruction of youth, and for making them familiar with 
the Chinese character. An-yah intimated that schoolmasters had re- 
cently been sent there from China ; and one day while I was making 
some observations, several boys who were noticed among the crowd with 
books, and who seemed proud of being able to read the Chinese charac- 
ters, were pointed out by An-yah as being the scholars of those people. 
* Recueil de Pere Gaubll. 
